Rain
by teninthemorning
Summary: Axel narrates, reflecting on why being a Nobody was perhaps not only necessary, but also essential: rain reminds us all that we’re alone… and some of us that we’re more than alone. Nobodies don’t even have themselves. AkuRoku.


_ being revised _

**Rain**

It was about 2:35 in mid-March when I first sat, waiting, on your driftwood doorstep. A sharp, icy wind coursed down the coastline and rustled my hair, which hung loose and wild and teased at my eyes. I could feel the cold boards creaking beneath me, their gray fibers jutting from the grain of the wood and catching on the tough leather sleeves of my coat. The clouds hung low and ominous, looming darkly as they reached far over the saturnine sea. I could almost taste the wetness in the salted air and hoped that the door behind me would open sometime soon - before the impending storm.

I hate rain. I always have. I guess it's kind of unsurprising, considering my affinity for fire. But when it rains, everything goes dark, and cold, and people hide from the world. They hide away, alone. Rain reminds us all that we're alone… and some of us that we're more than alone. We don't even have ourselves.

Nearly half an hour later, I heard the flimsy screen door scraping against its wooden frame. I leaned back to see two eyes, brilliant blue, peering out from under tousled blonde hair, and after a second's pause I was offered a reluctant grin. About time.

You grabbed my hand and led me through the little house, showing me your little kitchen, little dining room and its tiny round table missing one of its four legs, living room with pillow upon dusty old pillow scattered about the floor, and finally your bedroom, where you pulled me down to the floor then next to you on an ancient, tattered futon, our backs to the ground. "Look, Axel - " You pointed upwards. And there, built into the wooden ceiling, was a domed skylight nearly as big as the room itself. Intricate woodwork laced with vines ran around the hemisphere, holding together the myriad pieces of glass safeguarding us from the looming clouds above. Suddenly there was a crack of thunder, and the world flashed white.

Sometimes, I regretted being a part of the Organization. I regretted, too, being a Nobody, having no heart, feeling emotions pass through me but never take hold and change me. I regretted having powers that I couldn't use for the better. But that day in mid-March, under your thin cotton blanket, I gazed at the fire crackling in the air around us, suspended warm and safely away from the wood, then at you, tucked under my arm and lazily tugging at my coat's zipper pull as we lay back against your ridiculous pillows on your beat-up little futon in this crazy little hut you found – you know the Superior would have killed us both for being here instead of out on his mission – and then I looked at the clouds.

Nimbostratus: dark, low, ominous. They bring rain. But you know? I figure that maybe rain isn't always such a bad thing. If it had never rained, we'd never have been caught inside together... and if I had never had my powers, I would never have been able to conjure that crazy floating fire, keeping us warm as we watched the clouds pour their icy tears onto panes of glass. If I had never joined the Organization, I would never have you, warm against my side, withdrawn and grumpy and the best friend I've ever had.

So yeah, Roxas, I know we abandoned each other in the last life. But if we had never been Nobodies, even though we've always known we needed our hearts… I would never have understood that it's not _my_ heart that makes me a Somebody. It's yours.

Roxas lifted his eyes, clear blue as a cloudless sky. He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Axel's neck, and kissed him deeply.

* * *

_ AN - Hi!! This is my first piece ever posted here, and I would be really grateful for any feedback that anyone would like to offer. Much love ♥  
__Disclaimer - __If__ Kindgom Hearts belonged to me instead of Squenix and Disney, it would be full of lots more romantic Nobody fluff than it is. :)_


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